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Clearly I’m Testing Myself

Some say stress makes people stronger… well I say that’s a load of BS. I think anyone who actually believes this is either crazy or has no idea what it’s like to have actual stress.

Somehow I found myself in quite the predicament this past week.

I knew my three year old son was going to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. I was more than aware of this. The date of October 26th had been etched in my mind for weeks ever since I scheduled the surgery. He needed to have the procedure done and we needed to just do it. I have a knack for procrastinating with things I don’t want to do; who doesn’t have this trait?! I know it’s not just me! Well, I had to put on my big girl pants and book this surgery right before Halloween in the hopes that my little guy would be healed before my favorite holidays came around… you know, Thanksgiving and Christmas of course! So yes, I knew last week was going to be hard.

What I didn’t expect was for our dog to need acl surgery the following Monday.

While I’m being honest here, I did think he was going to have a minor surgery that Friday, the day after the son’s surgery. I had booked his teeth cleaning and cyst removal (sounds glamorous right?) long before the son’s and knew it would be okay since the husband would be around to deal with the boxer. Now, when we came home after a LONG morning of surgery, I did NOT expect my boxer to greet us on three legs. Great. So… long story much shorter, we had to book an emergency acl surgery for the following Monday.

Did I mention I decided to do a month long cleanse all over the same time? What was I thinking? Well, I’ll tell you what I was thinking. None of my winter clothes fit anymore and I didn’t have the time or money to correct this without doing something drastic. In theory, it was great. I’d be home, and I’d be healthy instead of being my usual stress eating self. Well, let me tell you something… in theory is NOT the same as in reality. Good-bye Starbucks, good-bye sanity. I’m pretty sure the first couple of weeks my family was debating slipping a buttered croissant into my mouth when I was sleeping to bring back their fun loving mom and not the carb missing monster I had become.

Also, go ahead and throw on the fact that I volunteered to spearhead a two week online garage sale fundraiser for the daughter’s school. Yes, the fundraiser took place during this time. What great timing!

I get it, this is nothing compared to what a lot of people are going through.

I’m super lucky that all I am dealing with is a son who won’t even eat popsicles right now, and a dog who has to wear an inflatable donut and can’t go in the backyard solo. I have sympathy for anyone who is dealing with any kind of stress like this or anything worse. Luckily for me, this is the most stress I’ve been under at one time in several years. Let me say it now, I am in awe of all those strong moms out there who deal with health issues in their kids on a daily basis and still are functioning human beings.

In a week or two this will all be behind me and my son will be back to eating pizza (hopefully NOT cut up anymore into baby size pieces). I realize my dog will eventually be able to climb stairs solo again and will be back to his old bunny chasing self. Who knows, maybe I’ll be wearing those jeans I put high up in my closet that I just kinda figured my new “mom of two, stress eating self” would never wear again. Clearly my future is bright!

If you’re reading this and you are dealing with challenging things in your life right now, remember: You’ve got this!

We all do. Remember you have friends and family ready to jump in and help. Even if you feel like it’s all too much, sometimes it just takes a little perspective and the thought of a candy bar and wine to make things better.

Stay strong mommas (and dads, and basically EVERYONE), we are all in the crazy journey of life together. Pretty sure NO one has it easy these days.